Bottle crate and carton adapted for use therewith

Abstract: A crate (C t ) for returnable bottles and a carton adapted for use with the crate in which the crate is formed, for each carton with a set of upstanding spacer posts (P₁,P₂;P₃,P₄) arranged in two pairs. The carton is impaled upon the set of posts when it is received in the crate. The posts (P₁,P₂) of one pair of posts are each sized to span the space between a pair of bottles (B₁,B₃;B₂,B₄) adjacent a central bottle (B c ) of the group and the set of posts define a space in the central bottle of the group is received.

Description: This invention relates to a shipping crate and to the combination of such a shipping crate and a carton adapted to receive a plurality of articles, such as bottles, and adapted for use with the crate. The crate is particularly adapted to receive a multiplicity of returnable glass bottles either singly or in groups packaged in such cartons. The invention is also concerned with a complementary carton which accommodates a plurality of bottles in a group and which is adapted to be received in the crate with the bottles arranged as they would otherwise be without the presence of the carton. Such crates and cartons are known as such from AT-B-368 967. The drinks industry uses a standard sized crate to contain twenty individual articles, for example, bottles in a 4 x 5 arrangement. There is a growing demand for these 20 bottle crates to be used in conjunction with multiple packaging. The partition used in existing crates make it impossible to use multipacks with the crates. The problems in producing such a crate and carton is that (i) the crate must remain a standard size, (ii) the number of articles per crate must remain the same, and (iii) the cartons must be the same design and therefore, contain the same number of articles. The solution is to re-configure the position of the articles into groups of five with a central article surrounded by four other articles. The crate is with a pair of spacers to maintain the distances between adjacent outer articles. A problem caused by adopting this configuration is that the lower portion of the central article is not stable because it is not supported by the side walls. The crate, according to the invention, overcomes this particular problem by the introduction of a pair of posts which pass through corresponding tabs, and also maintain the distance between adjacent outer articles In addition, the introduction of the posts through the tabs enables the tabs to be locked. The shape of the posts (and tabs) and the spacers not only maintain the distance between the central article and outer articles, but also assist in stabilising the central article thereby maintaining the relative position of each article. AT-B-368 967 is directed to a crate for containing 24 articles. Accordingly, neither the problems outlined above nor the particular solutions achieved by this invention are present. One aspect of the present invention provides a crate for accommodating returnable bottles including a plurality of sets of internal spacer means arranged to allow articles to be received in discrete groups characterised in that said spacer means of each set are arranged such that the spaces available to receive bottles include a central space which, together with corresponding spaces in other sets, produce rows whose spaces are out registry with the spaces available to receive bottles in each adjacent row of spaces. Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a crate for returnable bottles and carton combination in which the crate is formed, for each carton, with two pairs of upstanding spacer posts upon which the carton is to be impaled, characterised in that each post of one pair of posts is sized to span the space between a pair of spaced bottles and, together with the posts of the other pair of posts, create between them a central space for a single bottle of the group. According to a feature of this aspect of the invention, each post of the said other pair is adapted to cooperate with locking means which secures base panels of the carton together, such that said posts of the other pair can be engaged with and disengaged from the locking means without causing the locking means to be dislodged. According to another feature of this aspect of the invention each set of spacer posts comprising said two pairs may be separated from an adjacent set by internal partition means. Where partition means are provided, said internal partition means may separate the crate substantially along its longitudinal and transverse centre lines to separate four similar said sets of spacer means. Preferably, said single bottle is a central bottle in a group of five bottles. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a carton of the wraparound type for use in a crate or combination according to any of the preceding claims said carton accommodating a group of five bottles with a single central bottle and including a base in which a pair of apertures is provided at diametrically opposed locations relative to said single central bottle, each aperture being sized and positioned to receive one of a first pair of spacer posts of said crate and wherein locking means provided to secure said base is adapted to be put into a locked condition by a second pair of spacer posts of said crate. According to a feature of this aspect of the invention said base comprises a pair of panels locked together in overlapping relationship by said locking means, said locking means comprising hinged tabs which are displaced by said second pair of spacer posts to lock together the base panels. Another aspect of the invention provides a carton blank for use in providing a wraparound carton according to either of the two immediately preceding paragraphs. An embodiment of the invention, will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :- Figure 1 is a plan view of a wraparound carton blank adapted to be wrapped about a group of five bottles and to co-operate with a complementary bottle crate; Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of a bottle crate having upstanding posts on which a plurality of cartons according to the invention are impaled, the cartons being formed from blanks of the type shown in Figure 1 of the drawings; and Figure 3 is a schematic side view of the crate shown with a superimposed cross-section thereof along the line 3-3 in Figure 2. Referring to the drawings, and first to Figure 1 thereof, a blank 10 formed from paperboard or similar foldable sheet material comprises, in series a first base panel 12, a first heel panel 14, a first side panel 16, a top panel 18, a second side panel 20, a second heel panel 22 and a second base panel 24 hinged one to the next along transverse fold lines 26, 28, 30, 32, 34 & 36 respectively. The carton blank is of the so called "neck through" wraparound type and, as such, is adapted to receive a group of bottles the neck portions of which are received and protrude through openings A formed in the top panel 18 of the blank. In this case the carton blank is adapted to wrap a group of five bottles arranged in two rows of two bottles B 1 , B 2 ; B 3 , B 4 (Figure 2) each with one central bottle Bc. Thus the upper ends of the bottles are retained by the top panel apertures. The lower ends of the other (outermost) bottles in the group are secured by heel apertures h 1 , h 2 ; h 3 , h 4 provided in respective ones of the heel panels 14 and 22 as is well known in the art. Deltoid openings D, also well known in the art, are provided in each of the base panels 12 and 24 and serve to receive machine elements which draw the base panels 12 and 24 together into over-lapping relationship so that they can be locked together. Locking is achieved by means of locking tabs N 1 , N 2 which are folded out of the plane of base panel 24 and received respectively in the openings defined by main retaining tabs T 1 , T 2 which in turn remain in a braced and engaged relation respectively with locking tabs N 1 , N 2 . The main locking tabs N 1 , N 2 are displaced into their locked position such that the posts P 3 , P 4 of one pair of spacer posts can be received in respective ones of the locking apertures and removed therefrom without disengaging the locking tabs N 1 , N 2 . Subsidiary locking tabs n 1 , n 2 likewise are folded out of the plane of base panel 24 and received in the openings defined by subsidiary retaining tabs t 1 , t 2 struck from base panel 12. In Figure la a more detailed view of the form of main retaining tab T 1 is shown. Retaining tab T 1 comprises a pair of like hinged flaps f 1 , f 2 hinged along fold lines a 1 and a 2 respectively. The flaps are adapted to be displaced out of the plane of the panel 12 when locking tabs N 1 , N 2 in base panel 24 are raised through the aperture defied by retaining tab T 1 . Further openings x and y are formed in each of the base panels 12 and 24 respectively. Opening x is formed intermediate the deltoid openings D and intermediate the retention heel apertures h 3 , h 4 . Likewise opening y is formed intermediate deltoid openings D and intermediate heel retention apertures H 3 , H 4 . Openings x and y are positioned so that when the carton is formed from the blank and the base panels are locked together in overlapping relationship the openings x and y are positioned in diametrically opposed locations in relation to the location of a central bottle Bc of the packaged group. Referring now also to Figure 2 of the drawings, bottle crate Ct is formed from a suitable plastics material and includes longitudinal and transverse partitioning panels PP1 and PP2 respectively, which define four similar carton receiving areas AC 1 , AC 2 , AC 3 & AC 4 , respectively, within the crate. These areas also receive a group of single bottles introduced into the crate without a carton wrap. Each of the carton receiving areas, for example, area AC 1 includes a set of upstanding spacer posts arranged in pairs P 1 , P 2 and P 3 , P 4 respectively. Posts P 1 and P 2 , which are channel-shaped when viewed in plan, are adapted to be received through the apertures x and y provided in the base panels of a carton received in carton receiving are AC 1 . The posts are positioned so as to be disposed at diametrically opposed locations in relation to the central bottle BC of the carton group. The posts also are sized to span the space between the end-most bottles B 1 , B 3 and B 2 , B 4 in the respective rows of the group. Thus post P 1 spans the space between bottles B 1 and B 3 and likewise post P 2 spans the space between bottles B 2 and B 4 . Posts P 3 and P 4 , which are T-shaped when viewed in plan are adapted to be received through the apertures defined by locking tab N 1 and retaining tab T 1 and locking tab N 2 and retaining tab T 2 respectively. Posts P 1 , P 2 and P 3 , P 4 are shaped and positioned not only to define a central receiving area for bottle Bc, whether as part of a packaged group or as a single bottle, but also to define, together with the adjacent walls and/or partition panels of the crate, the other receiving areas for the remaining four bottles. The bottles in each area of the crate such as AC1 are therefore arranged as a discrete group each of which has a central space for bottle B c . The central spaces of adjacent areas eg. AC1 and AC2 produce a row BC, BC 2 which is out of register with the spaces available to receive or occupied by the bottles B 1 , B 2 , B 5 , B 6 and B 3 , B 4 , B 7 , B 8 respectively. Hence bottle Bc is in "nested" relationship with respect to bottles B 1 , B 2 and B 3 , B 4 . It will be appreciated that the crate and carton combination is thus adapted to accommodate a set of four cartons each containing five bottles for distribution and sale and thereafter the crate is able to receive single bottles in the arrangement shown in Figure 2 for return shipment for recycling. Hence the carton/crate combination of this invention is particularly useful for use with returnable glass bottles and preferably can accommodate twenty such bottles either singly or in packaged groups of five bottles per carton.

Claims: A crate (Ct) for accommodating returnable bottles including a plurality of sets of internal spacer means (P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 ) arranged to allow articles to be received in discrete groups characterised in that said spacer means of each set are arranged such that the spaces available to receive bottles (B 1 , B 2 , B 3 , B 4 , Bc) include a central space which, together with corresponding spaces in other sets, produce rows whose spaces are out registry with the spaces available to receive bottles in each adjacent row of spaces. A crate (Ct) for returnable bottles and carton combination in which the crate is formed, for each carton, with a set of upstanding spacer posts comprising two pairs of posts (P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 ) upon which the carton is to be impaled, characterised in that each post of one pair of posts (P 1 , P 2 ) is sized to span the space between a pair of spaced bottles (B 1 , B 3 , B 2 , B 4 ) and, together with the posts (P 3 , P 4 ) of the other pair of posts, create between them a central space for a single bottle (Bc) of the group. A crate and carton combination according to claim 2 wherein each post of the other pair (P 3 , P 4 ) is adapted to cooperate with locking means (T 1 , T 2 , N 1 , N 2 ) which secures base panels (12, 24) of the carton together, such that said posts of the other pair (P 3 , P 4 ) can be engaged with and disengaged from the locking means (T 1 , T 2 , N 1 , N 2 ) without causing the locking means to be dislodged. A crate and carton combination as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein each set of spacer posts comprising said two pairs (P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 ) is separated from an adjacent set by internal partition means (PP 1 ). A crate and carton combination as claimed in claim 4 wherein said internal partition means (PP 1 ) separates the crate substantially along its longitudinal and transverse centre lines to separate four similar said sets of spacer means (AC 1 , AC 2 , AC 3 , AC 4 ). A crate and carton combination as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5 wherein said single bottle is a central bottle (Bc) in a group of five bottles (B 1 , B 2 , B 3 , B 4 , Bc). A carton of the wrap around type for use in a crate or combination according to any of the preceding claims said carton accommodating a group of five bottles (B 1 , B 2 , B 3 , B 4 , Bc) with a single central bottle (Bc) and including a base (12, 24) in which a pair of apertures (X, Y) is provided at diametrically opposed locations relative to said single central bottle (Bc), each aperture (X, Y) being sized and positioned to receive one of a first pair of spacer posts (P 1 , P 2 ) of said crate and wherein locking means (T 1 , T 2 , N 1 , N 2 ) provided to secure said base (12, 24) is adapted to be put into a locked condition by a second pair of spacer posts (P 3 , P 4 ) of said crate (Ct). A carton according to claim 7 wherein said base (10, 12) comprises a pair of panels (10, 12) locked together in overlapping relationship by said locking means (T 1 , T 2 , N 1 , N 2 ), said locking means comprising hinged tabs (T 1 , T 2 ) which are displaced by said second pair of spacer posts (P 3 , P 4 ) to lock together the base panels (10, 12). A carton blank for use in providing a wraparound carton according to claim 7 or claim 8.

Inventors: DECKER PETRA, DECKER, PETRA
Applicants: MEAD CORP, THE MEAD CORPORATION
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B65D1
IPC codes: B65D5, B65D1